New Delhi: US President Joe Biden has warned that Russia would face international consequences if it uses chemical or tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine in an interview with CBS made public on Friday.
The American leader was asked what he would say to Russian President Vladimir Putin “if he is considering using chemical or tactical nuclear weapons.” “Don’t. You will change the face of war unlike anything since World War II,” Biden replied.
When asked about the US’ reaction, in this case, the US president stated: “You think I would tell you if I knew exactly what it would be? Of course, I am not going to tell you. It will be consequential. They will become more of a pariah in the world than they ever have been. And depending on the extent of what they do will determine what response would occur.”
Last month, the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Nonproliferation and Arms Control Alexander Trofimov rejected “absolutely groundless and unacceptable accusations of Russia allegedly threatening to use nuclear weapons, in particular in Ukraine.” He did not rule out that this was being done “intentionally, in order to intensify the anti-Russian hysteria.” The diplomat reiterated that Russia hypothetically allows “using nuclear response solely to respond to aggression with the use of the weapons of mass destruction or to respond to aggression using conventional arms if the existence of the state itself is threatened.”
The diplomat added that “none of those hypothetic scenarios has anything to do with the Ukrainian situation.” Moscow considers “all Five Nuclear-Weapon States remaining committed to the postulate on the prevention of a nuclear war confirmed by them in a top-level joint statement in January” one of the most important tasks, he stressed.
On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbas republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people “who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.” Following this, the US and its allies announced the introduction of sweeping sanctions against Russia and stepped up arms deliveries to Kyiv.
(Vinayak)